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Oilers swept, fall from 1st in ABL

The Peninsula Oilers were swept in a doubleheader by the Anchorage Bucs on Thursday at Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage to fall out of first place in the Alaska Baseball League.

The Chugiak Chinooks are now in first place with a 7-4 record. The Oilers, at 8-6, and the Bucs, at 6-4, are tied for second, just a half game back. The Anchorage Glacier Pilots are one game back at 5-4, while the Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks are two games back at 3-4. The Mat-Su Miners sit at 3-10.

The Oilers lost the first game 5-2 and the second game 8-6.

In the first game, Jeff Grijalva was able to pitch the Bucs to the victory.

Grijalva pitched 6 2-3 innings and gave up three hits and two runs. He walked four and struck out eight.

Oilers starter and loser J.D. Salles kept the Bucs off the board for the first three innings as the Oilers took a 2-0 lead. That lead came on a double by Josh Miller that scored Trey Richardson and Nigel Nootbaar.

The Bucs came back to take the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning with three runs. The Bucs added another run in the fifth inning, then Zach Esquerra led off the bottom of the sixth with a home run that gave the Bucs a 5-2 lead and chased Salles.

John Straka then came on to retire the next three batters.

In the top of the seventh, the Oilers tried to rally. Riley Heinzer singled and Miller walked to chase Grijalva in favor of Braden Shipley.

Shipley got Jake Alvarez to fly out to third base to end the game.

Esquerra had the biggest offensive game for either team. He was 2 for 3 with two runs and two RBI.

In the second game, the Oilers pitchers had a tough time keeping the Bucs off the board. Starter and loser Nootbaar pitched three innings and gave up four runs.

Mark Garcia pitched a scoreless two-thirds of an inning, but Cole Thompson gave up three runs in 1 1-3 innings and Chris Kono gave up a run in an inning.

The Oilers entered the top of the seventh down 8-3. Peninsula managed to score three runs and get the tying run to first base, but Jordon Hein struck out to end the game.

The Oilers conclude the series with the Bucs tonight at Mulcahy at 7 p.m.